China says nearly 300,000 punished for corruption in 2015

The party's official watchdog body said Sunday that 200,000 were given light punishments and 82,000 handed severe penalties, including demotions within the bureaucracy.

The body known as the Central Committee for Discipline Inspection rarely explains its methodology or what evidence it considers, and no other details were given in the brief statement posted on its website.

President Xi Jinping has pressed a massive nationwide probe of corruption among officials of all ranks, including those in the party, government, military and state-run industries.

Hundreds of thousands of officials have been interviewed in the campaign but only a small number identified. An independent database lists 1,567 as having been investigated, expelled from the party or sentenced.